Invest in people skills to boost bottom line

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Harriet Rifkin

Business Journal News Service

In the past, it was always the person with the best technical or operational skills who moved most quickly up an organization's ladder of success. With increasing frequency in today's workplace, strong technical expertise is no longer the sole key to success. Of equal or even more importance is a leader's ability to effectively interact with people.

Current research demonstrates that various skills linked under the general title of "people skills" play an increasingly important role at the very highest levels of an organization.

Differences in technical competencies are of negligible importance. The higher the rank of a person considered to be a star performer, the more people skills emerge as the reason for his or her effectiveness as a leader and as a strong performer.

According to Jordan Evans, co-author of "Love 'Em or Lose 'Em: Getting Good People to Stay," people don't quit companies, they quit bosses. Generally, those bosses lack people skills. Employee drive and commitment are often directly linked to the individual's relationship with management.

What are People Skills, anyway?

In broad-brush terms, people skills are often described as:

? The ability to talk, to understand, and to empathize.

? The ability to advance the work of an organization by interacting with others in ways that develop respect, mutual understanding and productive working relations.

? The ability to interact with others in a manner that builds effective relationships of trust, so that they can succeed as a result of your impact on their lives.

Perhaps a more helpful way to describe this skill set is to note several of the typical characteristics of individuals who possess effective people skills:

? They understand themselves and how their behavior impacts others.

? They control their responses; they try to be less impulsive and to think before acting.

? They have a sincere desire to assist others in the pursuit of goals.

? They are able to "tune in" accurately to the feelings and needs of others and then treat people accordingly.

? They work at managing relationships, building networks and finding common ground in order to minimize conflict and maximize rapport.

? They are consistently approachable.

? They create an environment of trust.

Developing people skills in employees

Critical to launching any program regarding development of people, is to understand that the program must have buy-in at the top. The leadership of an organization sets the tone for the organization's culture.

The "old dogs cannot learn new tricks" theory is merely an excuse for unwillingness to change behavior. People skills are about behaviors and behaviors can be learned if someone is open to his or her blind spots and has the willingness to develop a plan for change.

Many of today's successful organizations are investing in people-development programs that will reap returns over the long term. In addition to programs aimed at current management, these organizations are creating programs that help workers start developing people skills at much earlier stages of their careers. The organizations understand that these individuals will be better prepared to become tomorrow's leaders by acquiring people skills early in their development.

Although there is no one-size-fits-all approach to developing a program to develop people skills, the following outlines a program we have used successfully with several clients:

? Identify internal and external coaches to assist in learning new skills.

? Measure results.

? Evaluate process.

There are a wide range of possible components of a people development program, far too many to be described in detail here. Several that are frequently used are coaching/mentoring programs; a 360-degree (multi-rater) feedback process (obtaining confidential, anonymous feedback from your boss, colleagues and direct-reports); one-on-one executive coaching; effective communication and feedback training; and self-assessment inventories.

Experience shows that effective people skills are the competitive advantage in any successful organization over the long haul. If competitive success is achieved through people, then doesn't it follow that the people skills of those who lead and manage are critical?

An investment and commitment of time and resources today to develop these critical skills will result in a change to your organization's culture that will have a positive impact on all areas of your business, including the bottom line.

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